


Blueberry Season

by Djaeka



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Adrinette, Domestic Fluff, F/M, Followed by antics, One-Shot, Serious Discussions, adrienette - Freeform, aged-up, married, post-reveal
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-01
Updated: 2019-06-01
Packaged: 2020-04-06 02:35:09
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,848
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19053499
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Djaeka/pseuds/Djaeka
Summary: Marinette is preparing for a dinner party with their friends, while Adrien is determined to get ahold of dessert early. He enlists a little kwami help to ensure that his plan works, but it doesn’t quite go as expected.





	Blueberry Season

**Author's Note:**

  * For [RoseGardenTwilight](https://archiveofourown.org/users/RoseGardenTwilight/gifts).



Adrien slid his fingers across the countertop, a smooth glide as they approached the varnished silver of the centerpiece. He was so close, only inches from the delicious treat. The smell had been teasing him for an hour now, blueberries and sugar and spices and butter swirling through the air in a maddening taunt. The crisp pastry shells had risen impressively and browned to a deep gold, with the slightest hints of darkened crust just at the edges.

Sure, they were for tonight. Sure, Marinette had already told him _not to touch._ But she had baked them _well_ before they would be needed and they wouldn’t be hot when their guests arrived. And she _knew_ it was his favorite thing to eat them right out of the oven, even when he did burn his mouth. Glancing up to make sure her back was still turned, he lifted the tips of his fingers from the counter and stretched toward the pastries.

“You can’t even begin to imagine what I’ll do to you if you touch those right now.”

He jerked his hand back as if burned and stood completely upright, the picture of innocence as Mari turned toward him, eyes narrowed and lips pursed. He smiled, _convincingly!_ , and Marinette rolled her eyes as she pointed her favorite wooden spoon at him.

“If you eat those now, they won’t be available for our guests later. And I will _absolutely_ throw you under the bus as to why they aren’t getting any of them. Blueberry season is short, and over, and that’s the last batch. _Which you know._ So quit it.” She kept her eyes hard, challenging and stern. He could see the amused twinkle behind them, but experience had definitely told him she wasn’t good to mess with in this state.

“But they’ll be cold! No one likes cold pastries!” A whine made its way into his voice and he cringed instinctively at the tone. Marinette had never made him feel uncomfortable, but a childhood of emotional repression made him tend toward making sure his emotions didn’t escape in any meaningful ways.

Ignoring the whine entirely, she continued, “And I will be reheating them closer to when they’ll be served. That’s what you _do_ with pastries; they have to be fully baked early or they take too long. Or the dough gets soggy. Or deflates. There’s a lot that can go wrong, it’s best to just bake them early and avoid all the issues.”

Lip jutting out dramatically, Adrien turned toward the little corner of the room that housed the kwamis. Plagg would be no help; they weren’t cheese pastries. But Tikki? Maybe. Since Marinette hadn’t been able to make any extras for her, it was possible that she would help him.

Adrien stomped as loudly as he could manage in bare feet (he was _ridiculously_ quiet even when trying to be loud) toward the kwami nook and motioned to Tikki as he neared the bedroom he shared with Marinette. Tikki narrowed her eyes, but flitted after him. Adrien allowed a grin to creep onto his face as he entered the relative safety of the bedroom. _This will work, I’m sure it will._

“What are you up to now? I’m sure after your earlier attempt, she’ll be expecting you to do something,” Tikki mused, exasperation and amusement warring on her little face. A heavy sigh escaped her, blue eyes boring into his.

“Of course she’s expecting something, they’re _blueberry_ pastries Tikki.”

“You two do this every year! I don’t think you’ve ever gotten away with any of them.”

“I have too!”

“Well, not without being caught anyway,” Tikki corrected, amusement winning for the moment as a tiny snicker escaped her mouth, “The amount of chores Marinette loaded on you-“

“I remember. But I made a mistake last time, and Plagg is just… the _worst_ accomplice.” Adrien abruptly cut Tikki off and shuddered, remembering the disaster of his previous attempt.

“Okay. So you want…what from me?”

“Okay. So. Can you carry two of them? She’ll be expecting me to steal them, but if I distract her instead-“ Adrien began to pace around the room rapidly as he spoke, waving his arms wildly in front of his face.

“She’s still going to know something is going on.”

“Of course she is, she’s the tactician, but she won’t expect you to help me.” Tikki flinched as Adrien pointed a finger just a little too enthusiastically in her direction. She pursed her lips a bit. He watched her carefully as her little antennae twitched back and forth.

“So, why two?”

“I’m not asking you to do it for free, Tikki.”

Tikki’s eyes lit up, widening fractionally as she considered this new information. “I thought you were going to promise cookies or something!” She started to rub her paws together and swirl around the room in a wide, erratic circle. Adrien leaned closer to her, but all he could hear was low muttering from the little bug.

“Okay! I’ll do it. Distract her and I’ll get them.” Tikki kissed the tip of Adrien’s nose and sped away, leaving him to blink into the suddenly empty room. _That was easier than I thought._

Easing out of the bedroom once more, Adrien located his wife in the kitchen. Catching his eye, she sighed heavily at him.

“Adrien, honestly. Leave the pastries alo-“ He raised his hands in surrender and stepped neatly into the kitchen as she grumbled at him.

“I’m not here to steal pastries, promise. I’m just wondering if you need any help. What did dinner end up being tonight? Want a hand?” _Don’t make kitten eyes, just normal, helpful Adrien eyes._ Marinette squinted and moved back a pace as she turned her head slightly.

“You’re…giving up? Really?”

“Really. So.. dinner?” He suppressed the grin trying to break out across his face. _For the love of God, Adrien, don’t do it. You’d be the worst poker player._

Marinette pursed her lips and blew a breath out in a burst. “Fine. It’s coq au vin, and roasted baby potatoes. I was thinking some haricot verts too. The chicken has already been cooking for a while, but if you could trim the haricots?”

“Sure, no problem.” Adrien gathered a paring knife and the bowl of beans, quickly starting to work on trimming their ends. He glanced toward where the blueberry pastries had been earlier and noted that Marinette had moved them to the small cooling rack near the stove, very much out of his reach. He smirked at the idea of being a step ahead of his Ladybug for once. Turning back to his work, he finished trimming and added oil to the bowl. That done, he started to chop some fresh herbs for the dish as well. Long ago Marinette had explained that a dish just isn’t finished unless it has salt, pepper, and something to make it pop a bit. Usually something fresh and something acidic. Tarragon and sherry vinegar would do nicely in this case.

“Thank you.” Marinette turned fully toward him as he placed the beans into the oven on a sheet tray and set the timer. “I was maybe a little snappy earlier. It’s just that you do this every year and I want this dinner to go well.”

“It’s just Nino and Alya, Marinette. They’re our friends. They won’t ditch us because of one bad meal.”

“I know, it’s just… they’re having a baby now and things are changing, so I want to make sure they still…enjoy their time with us? I want to keep them around despite all the changes happening.” Marinette nibbled her lip as she explained, progressing to chewing on her thumbnail toward the end. Adrien gently took her hand, removing the nail from her lips.

“Mari. Of course things are changing. They’ve been changing for a long time, but usually it’s so gradual that we don’t notice as much. Nino and Alya love us, and they love visiting us. That isn’t going to change with a baby. Odds are the baby will love coming over just as much. Kids love cats, they’ll probably follow Plagg everywhere to pull his tail.”

“Hey!” Plagg’s voice drifted out of his nest, but no tiny cat appeared to chastise him further.

“Point is, our friends aren’t going anywhere. One meal won’t break us.” Holding both of Marinette’s hands in his own now, Adrien leaned into her space to press his forehead to hers. He smiled gently, trying to communicate how honestly _hopeful_ he felt about their all their lives changing.

“Okay.”

“Yeah?”

“Yeah. I’ll let up. I’m sorry I snapped.”

“And of course I forgive you.” Adrien closed his eyes as he moved to press a feather light kiss to her forehead. “Who knows? Pretty soon it might be us with a kitten on the way, and Alya will be panicking about losing _her_ best friend.”

“Pretty sure between you and Plagg, I deal with enough children.”

“Again, hey!” Plagg called lazily from his nest.

Marinette ignored him and continued. “At least I can trust Tikki to be a mature adult. Being. Whatever.” Adrien’s left eye twitched slightly as he remembered why he was in the kitchen in the first place. At the angle he was standing, he couldn’t see either the cooling rack or Tikki, but Marinette’s back was turned so he could only guess Tikki had taken the opportunity. But given how the conversation had turned more serious than he’d anticipated, his stomach coiled and fluttered at the idea of this being the distraction.

“So, uh. Since I forgave you. Maybe you can return the favor? I sort of came in here not planning to talk about anything serious? And uh. I _mayhavealreadyaskedTikkitostealpastries._ ”

He visibly flinched when Marinette’s eyes first widened and then narrowed to a vicious glare. She spun in place, trying to see where Tikki had gone but the kwami was nowhere in sight. Rushing toward the pastries, she counted them rapidly. Her back stiffened and Adrien ran for the window that housed the fire escape. Marinette rounded on him and raced toward the window to close it first, but the terror-driven adrenaline rush gave him an advantage. He leaped the window sill and scrambled up the ladder to the roof, puffing and giggling madly. Looking up, he watched Tikki drift into his line of sight, cheeks bulging and a pastry in hand.

“Uhf. Couldn’t,” Tikki paused and swallowed heavily to speak. “Couldn’t carry two.” She handed him the other pastry, grinning and giggling along with him. “You definitely got caught though.”

“Yeah. Probably can’t bet on kittens anytime soon, huh?”

“Very unlikely. Good job calming her down before you blew it though.”

Adrien cocked his head, listening to the sound of his wife yelling their names before slamming the window shut. He took a large bite of the blueberry pastry in his hand.

“Worth it, I think.” Tikki snickered and covered her mouth with her paw.

“That was fun. Bien joué?” She held a tiny paw out in a fist. Adrien grinned.

“Bien joué.” 


End file.
